November 30th - December 4th

 

ADDITIONAL IN-SCHOOL STUDY TIME ADDED TO THE SCHEDULE = LESS HOMEWORK

At the end of the first trimester we completed a homework benchmarking exercise with the students.  It showed that approximately 85% of our students spend between 1 to 3 hours on homework per night.  Some spent less time, and a few spent slightly more time.  With the beginning of the basketball season, we are entering the most hectic time of the year.  To provide additional study time during the school day, thereby lowering the amount of time required at home for school work, we are going to offer students additional time to study during the school day

Coming back from Thanksgiving break, students will have the option of adding one 50 minute study hall each day to their schedule.  This study hall will be in lieu of the scheduled activities during Eagle Op (10:00-10:50).  Currently during that time students have a 25-minute snack break and then either 25 minutes of recess or 25 minutes of physical education.  They will now have the option of going to a 50-minute study hall instead of the normal snack and recess/PE time.  Students going to study hall will eat their snack in the study hall.  This will ensure that each day every student will have at least 70 minutes of study time available. 

ASSESSMENTS CALENDAR

We have created a great way for students and parents to check for upcoming assessments.  THIS LINK leads to a Google Sheet that will have the next 2 weeks of assessments.  The link below will lead to the 6th grade assessments, but by using the tabs in the lower left corner (shown below), you can navigate to 7th grade and 8th grade assessments, as well.

Different subjects will appear in different colors:

History is black, Science is green, ELA is blue, Spanish is red, and Math is pink.

Please bear in mind that Middle School Assessments may be added, removed, or changed at any time.  This Sheet will always be up to date, however - once a teacher assigns or adjusts an assessment, this Sheet will reflect that change.

Each middle school student is required to complete ten hours of community service over the course of the school year.  Please remember to list hours worked on a daily basis, do not log the total sum of hours worked over an extended period of time.  See below for a few upcoming service opportunities.  Click HERE for a log form.

COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITY!

We have had great success at securing volunteers to escort HRB PK - 2nd grade students during morning carpool!  Because of this, we will limit one day a week per student for now.  Reminder: duty hours are 7:45 - 8:10.  ½ hour of community service credit each day.  Students should keep a log of their hours on the community service form. If you are interested, email Mr. Crawford and Mrs. Mannarino.

Walkers for THIS Week:

Tuesday, December 1: Kate K. and Charlotte G.

Wednesday, December 2: Boots B. and Maggie A.

Thursday, December 3: Cullen D. and Andrew W. 

Friday, December 4: Lyla W. and Harper W.

This year in the LC Corner, I will be offering tips and strategies to support your work at school and at home. Please reach out to me anytime you need assistance or have any questions. tguggenheim@hancockdayschool.org

Tip #13: PARTICIPATE! Be an active learner. 

• Participate in class discussions

• Ask questions

• Come in for extra help

• Create study guides

• Set up study groups

• Ask a parent to quiz you or review with you

• Make note cards

• Answer questions

The more you participate, the more you engage your brain in learning. The more you engage your brain in learning, the more you learn.

One common concern that we often hear from parents is about how to help their students manage social media and the associated pressures.  For an eye opening look into how developers and social media companies attract users and keep them coming back for more, watch The Social Dilemma available on Netflix.  

While there are benefits to social media, preteens and teens need guidance and boundaries from parents to help navigate the challenges.  Check on this article for some tips on how to help your student find balance with social media and technology: Help Kids Balance Their Media Lives

Allison Maher 

amaher@hancockdayschool.org       

ALGEBRA - MRS. SMOAK

During remote learning, we learned about slope from a graph and calculating the slope from 2 points (4.4). This week, we will use those skills to write linear equations in slope-intercept form and point-slope form (4.5). 

GEOMETRY - MR. LANFEAR

This week in Geometry, we will continue Chapter 5 by learning about the medians, the centroid, altitudes, the orthocenter (5.4), triangle inequalities (5.5), and the hinge theorem (5.6).

ELA - MRS. BOYER

Students have finished reading Animal Farm! Awesome job! We will continue to dive into the following topics: Russian Revolution, Propaganda, Types of Government, Symbolism, Characterization, Allegory, etc. 

Students will be working on multiple group activities regarding this novel. Class discussion will be key to understanding the material. Students will receive two study guides throughout this unit; one will be more focused on simplistic comprehension, and the other will focus more on thematic and symbolic elements.

Projects: 

Perfect Society Creation

Essay/Literary Review

Assessments: 

Pop Quiz the week of 12/1

Unit 5 Vocab Quiz 12/4

Animal Farm Test 12/11

Major Project the Week of 12/14 (in and out of class)

*It is critically important that all 8th graders stick with the timelines I give them for reading and projects. Also, if students are spending more than 25-35 minutes on ELA homework, please send them to me in the morning. Students in the 8th grade really need to pay attention to their time management skills before moving forward to 9th grade.*

Attention!! The T2 Reading Log is OPTIONAL; however, there is an option for up to three extra credit assignments on GC. 

HIGH SCHOOL SPANISH - MRS. SALE

Hola...this week we will devote our time to working on ‘’pasatiempos’’ and we will take advantage of reviewing items from the past.  There will be two quizzes this week...both will be focusing on hobbies/vocabulary as well as a few things from the past. 

PHYSICAL SCIENCE - MS. HOFFMAN

          Welcome Back!  I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable Thanksgiving Break. The eighth graders did a WONDERFUL job with their unexpected week of Zoom virtual learning before the break.  They were on time to class and followed Zoom protocol as we finished up our review of acids and bases and took an on-line quiz over this information.   

We are starting off this week with new information on Energy including the two main types (kinetic and potential) and various forms of energy such as chemical, sound, electrical, thermal and mechanical. We will also begin learning about energy transformations such as conduction, convection and radiation found in heat transfer.  The students will explore these energy forms and transformations further with a two day energy lab.  

Additional energy topics and activities for the rest of December include a pendulum lab to learn about the Law of Conservation of Energy,  learning to use mathematical formulas to calculate potential and kinetic energy and creating an ice cube insulation container to further explore heat transfer and heat conductors/ insulators.   Our quiz over the first half of our Energy Unit will be on Friday 12/11/20.  

  

Science Fair Update:  

We are finally in our last few weeks of Science Fair Projects.  The students have been working hard and should have most (if not all) of their experiment completed and data collected at this time.  There is another log book check this Wednesday 12/2/20 that needs to include our research days during the Zoom week, all their data/ results and any other information students have updated, modified and completed since our last log book check on 10/28/20. Students should all also be working on finalizing their science fair project information and writing their formal reports which are due next Wednesday, 12/9/20.  This report should follow the order provided on their grading rubric, be typed in MLA format and printed, stapled together and turned in directly to me.  (Please do not share or email it the formal report with me.)  

Their final report should also contain an abstract, which is a 250 word (or less) summary of their entire project.  We will go over how to write this and look at several student examples during class this week.  The form is found on-line at https://www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/sites/default/files/gsef-2021-abstract-form.pdf  All remaining due dates are listed below. 

Any student with questions or concerns about their science fair project should email or meet with me to discuss the situation.   I am available every morning from 7:30 - 8am, after school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays as well as during break and snack each day.

**Remember that along with numerous homework grades, this assignment will count as a test grade (formal report), homework grade (log book), classwork grade (class presentation) and Second Trimester exam project grade (triptych).

Remaining Science Fair Project Dates

                                                (* Indicate Homework Grades)      

  

Wednesday                12/2/20                        *Log Book Check with Data/ Results OR

    Prototype/Solution 

 

Wednesday                12/9/20                        *Log Book Check/ Updated Results OR 

Solution  AND Sketch of Triptych

  Completed Formal Report (printed) 

                     

 

Wednesday                12/16/20                     All Completed Project Triptych & Log Book 

            Project presentations also this week

US HISTORY - MRS. ROBINSON

Next week, in American History & Government II, we will continue our unit four on Reconstruction. We will start the week with our Reconstruction debate where students will try and convince the class that their assigned Reconstruction plan would have been the best for the country. After the debate students will be challenged to create their own Reconstruction plan based on what they know about the countries needs at the time. Then students will study the Radical Republicans Reconstruction plan and Johnson’s Presidency. The week will finish with a unique look at some of the positives of that came from the time of Reconstruction. 

ADVANCED SPANISH - MRS. SALE

Hola...we will begin the week with an exciting game if SALE FEUD...it is a review game that the kids seem to enjoy and more importantly...they learn from it. :)  We will have 2 quizzes this week.  Both will focus on adjectives and family members.  Friday’s quiz will tend to have more review on it.  In the middle of the week, the students will learn about ‘’question words” and “how to form a question”. 

ADVANCED SPANISH - MR. ALEXANDER

ALGEBRA 1 - MRS. SMOAK

During remote learning, we learned about slope from a graph and calculating the slope from 2 points (4.4). This week, we will use those skills to write linear equations in slope-intercept form and point-slope form (4.5). 

PRE-ALGEBRA - MR. LANFEAR

This week in Pre-Algebra, we will continue Chapter 4 by learning how to write, compare, and multiply numbers in scientific notation (4.7).

ELA - MRS. BOYER

Students should be finishing their reading of their choice novel! :) (The Only Road by Alexandra Diaz, A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman, The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani, The Breadwinner Trilogy by Deborah Ellis, All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg)

We will be working on the elements of tone, mood and theme throughout the next week; this will be in preparation for a major project which students will be working on both in and out of class from 12/7-12/18. Students will be given a rubric, a timeline and an immense amount of time in class. 

We will be working with Unit 6 Vocabulary with a quiz on 12/11.

Attention!! The T2 Reading Log is OPTIONAL; however, there is an option for up to three extra credit assignments on GC. 

ELA - MRS. SASSER

This week, students will read chapters 10-12 in Lord of the Flies. Students will continue to have guided questions to work on while reading. These will serve as their study guide for their novel test in a few weeks, so they should be responding thoroughly and will detail. We will discuss the effectiveness of each boys’ leadership style. Students will write a persuasive speech at the end of the week, acting as one of the characters and attempting to persuade their audience that they are the best leader. Students will begin writing their speeches on Thursday 12/3 and speeches will be due on 12/7. They will have two full class periods to work on this and may take through the weekend if need be. 

Students will have a quiz on chapter 10-12 on 12/7 and their unit test over the novel will be on 12/10. 

As always, it is important that students keep up with the assigned reading. All reading is posted on my board in my classroom and on Google Classroom. They must come prepared to class prepared to have a conversation over the reading and complete classwork assignments. I am available every morning and during study hall if they ever have questions or want to have additional conversations about the book. 

Students will be working on Unit 6 in their Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary books.They will have a vocabulary test on Friday 12/11. 

A reminder about any and all projects in ELA: projects in my class are designed to help students think critically and not just memorize information. Rather, I want them learning how to apply what they’ve learned. They are given detailed rubrics with checklists and a breakdown of my expectations. They should consult their rubric regularly while working on their project. The bulk of ELA projects are completed in class; they are given ample time and multiple class periods where they are strictly working on their project. Therefore, if students use their time wisely, they should have only minimal parts to complete at home. 

LIFE SCIENCE - MRS. DURANT

Next week in Life Science, we will wrap up our unit on Genetics and Inherited Traits. Students will continue to practice using Punnett Squares and will participate in a lab in which they will create a model of DNA. They will also have an engaging lab extracting the DNA from a strawberry and viewing it under the microscope.  We will have a unit test on Genetics and Inherited Traits on Friday, December 4.  I will hold a test review during class on Thursday, December 3. 

US HISTORY - MRS. ROBINSON

Next week in American History & Government, we will continue our unit four on Expansion. Students will continue to work on their long term research project. They received a rubric and timeline for the project as well as scheduled work days for the project. Students will be expected to complete portions of it at home. On nights they are expected to work on their project at home this will be the only homework assigned. Next week one set of their research cards are due Monday the 16th, the second set of cards are due Wednesday the 18th. We will finish the week comparing exploration and colonization tactics of the French, Dutch & Spanish. 

US HISTORY - MR. O’HAYER

Next week in American History we continue our examination into the development of the colonies. We have concluded our study of the  New England Colonies. There we discussed how the Puritan’s religious beliefs shaped the colonies. We then  moved to the Middle Colonies and how they developed and influenced the growth and development of the overall changes that occurred there. This week  we will settle in with the Southern Colonies and the Spanish Colonies on the Borderlands. Geography will be a focus of this unit as well in how the colonies developed and were built. We will also begin our next project: Building our own colony. We started this project over remote learning. We will go back over the requirements this week. All info for this project has been posted in GC.  Our Chapter assessment will be on Friday, December 4th.

ACCELERATED MATH - MR. CARGILE

Next week in Accelerated Math 7 we will begin a new chapter, Number Patterns and Fractions. To start this unit will revisit prime factorization and finding greatest common factors in preparation for operations with fractions.

PRE-ALGEBRA - MR. LANFEAR

This week in Pre-Algebra, we will continue Chapter 4 by learning how to write, compare, and multiply numbers in scientific notation (4.7).

EARTH SCIENCE - MS. HOFFMAN

  Welcome Back!  I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable Thanksgiving Break. Overall, the sixth graders did a WONDERFUL job with their unexpected week of Zoom virtual learning before the break.  They were on time to class and followed Zoom protocol with only a few internet connection problems.  During this time we continued learning about renewable and nonrenewable energy resources and students chose one particular resource as the topic of their Energy Project.  Topic choices for the project were solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear, fossil fuel, hydroelectric power, hydrogen power or biomass.  All projects must include the information listed on the rubric, which we reviewed during class, but students have a choice on their projects format.  They can decide to write a written report, make a poster board, OR create a 3-D display.  A copy of the rubric is also on Google Classroom and I will give everyone a printed copy when they return to school.  All students spent approximately one-half of each of their Zoom science classes last week researching information on their topic, but the remaining work on the project needs to be completed at home.  This Energy Project will count as one test grade and one homework grade and is due on or before Friday 12/15/20.  

This week we will also finish up our interrupted two-day Energy Lab as students continue learning about the different forms of energy and how they can transform into each other.  This includes demonstrating chemical energy changing into electrical energy by creating a fruit battery with lemons, zinc nails and copper wire, using photovoltaic cells to observe light turning to mechanical energy, measuring the change in thermal energy caused by motion and using/ diagramming an electrical motor.  Also on the agenda this week in Earth Science will be a “cookie mining” lab simulating the cause and effect of fossil fuels, one of our non-renewable energy resources.  Our quiz on the various forms of energy as well as renewable and non-renewable energy sources will be this Friday 12/4/20.

EARTH SCIENCE - MRS. DURANT

Next week in Earth Science, students will continue their  study of renewable and nonrenewable energy as well as their impact on the environment. They will begin their Energy Project on Tuesday. For this project they will choose one of the following energy sources to research: solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear, fossil fuel, hydroelectric power, hydrogen power or biomass. Then they will complete the project by selecting to write a written report, making a poster board, OR making a 3-D display.  All research for the project will be completed in class. The final project (writing the report, making the poster or 3-D model) will be completed at home.  Project due date is December 15.  Students will also participate in a cookie mining lab. This is a fun and engaging lab which helps them to further explore mining and land reclamation.  Students will have a test on Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy Sources on Friday, December 4. I will hold an optional review session on Thursday, December 3 at 7:30am.

ELA - MRS. SASSER

This week, students will finish up reading New Kid by Jerry Craft. They will have guided questions to complete as well. It is imperative that students answer these questions thoroughly and with details, as they will serve as their study guide for their unit test. They will also dig into completing a character analysis mini-project. They will work in partners to examine each character’s actions and reactions throughout the novel. 

Students will have a quiz over chapters 8-14 on Thursday, 12/3. Their unit test over the novel will be on Thursday, 12/10.

Students will be working on Unit 6 in their Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary books.They will have a vocabulary test on Tuesday 12/15. 

Reading Reminder: As with any novel study, students will have guided questions to complete for each chapter. These should be answered in complete, thorough sentences, as it will serve as their study guide for their quizzes and final test. It is essential that students keep up with the assigned reading if they want to be successful on our in class assignments. 

All reading assignments are posted on my classroom board and on Google Classroom daily. Students should check Google Classroom every single day. 

A reminder about any and all projects in ELA: projects in my class are designed to help students think critically and not just memorize information. Rather, I want them learning how to apply what they’ve learned. They are given detailed rubrics with checklists and a breakdown of my expectations. They should consult their rubric regularly while working on their project. The bulk of ELA projects are completed in class; they are given ample time and multiple class periods where they are strictly working on their project. Therefore, if students use their time wisely, they should have only minimal parts to complete at home. 

INTRO SPANISH - MR. ALEXANDER

Welcome back students!  We will begin the week with a brief review of the concepts we have covered thus far.  Our series “Buena Gente” (which can be found on YouTube) will continue with episode 5 of season 1.  Students will answer questions based on the episode.  We will learn how to talk about personality traits and familiar objects in Spanish. Finally, we will learn about the artist Frida Khalo.

WORLD HISTORY - MR. O’HAYER 

In World History we begin winding down our study of Ancient Greece and begin our dive into Ancient Rome. Last week during remote learning we began ch. 11: Study of ancient Rome. Next week we finish studying how Rome was created and how it evolved into the Roman Republic. We will have our chapter test (Chapters 10 and 11) on Thursday, December 3rd. . Important Course Update: Looking ahead, we will finish our study of Ancient Greece and Rome before we depart for the holidays. Be prepared for a steady pace in class so we can finish this Unit. As stated previously, the pace of the class, along with expectations, will continue to increase. It is imperative that students read their books and review their notes daily. 

ART - MRS. COOKSON

“One today is worth two tomorrows.” - Benjamin Franklin

Sketchbook Prompt: Draw two objects side by side that should never be put together.

8th: Will wrap up pre-production and begin filming for the PSA project

7th: Will round out building Fantasy Design structures

6th: Will complete 1-point perspective drawing